My 2016 Diary of impulse control and staying on a strict budget.

DippityDooDah

Hi steph, I don't post much but I have followed your old thread for a while and missed you when you stopped posting, I have subscribed to your new thread and would like to wish you all the best for a debt busting 2016.
I work full-time and am currently the only wage earner in the house, I often have guilt that I don't spend enough time with my kids, I don't get to take or pick them up from school very often. I would love to be in your position so I guess we always have some kind of guilt working or stay at home. You just have to get on with it I suppose, and play the cards your have been dealt. You underestimate your value to your family, even though you feel you are not bringing in as much money as you would like, your family rely on you for everything. Try and enjoy the time you have with them, the debt will go eventually as your are determined.

Have you looked at some if the paper craft gifts that people are making, there seem to be loads of fb pages with people doing personalised pictures, and other gifts and there is a demand for it, is this something you could turn your hand to? A few in my local area that I would recommend are A gift of love, and lulu and nini. Not sure how easy it will be to find them in fb but worth a look. If you want direct links just let me know,

Best wishes for 2016

DDD
Xx

tootallulah

Happy New Year Steph, 2016 will be your year I can feel it! Good luck to you and yours, be healthy and happy.

sweetpea26

Found you


Happy New Year to you and yours Steph. Lets hope its a good one as the old song goes

StressedSteph

Afternoon all

Thanks and Happy New Year to abba, Chanie, Tootallulah and Sweatpea xxx

Hi KittyCashCake
I plan to get Ebaying in January, I haven't got much to sell but every little bit will be saved up towards my Emergency fund.
Good luck with your 5 items per week, I might join you with that x

Hi DebtFreeOneDay
I must admit you have made me think.....Am I making up convenient excuses for not being able to have a proper part-time job??
I must admit to feeling bad at the thought of having to bung my kiddo's into childcare during the holidays and I think that is also a factor that prevents me get a conventional job. I really enjoy the time I spend with them.
But if I could maybe get a 3 day per week job then that wouldn't completely take away my quality time with them. I just need something that starts at 930 and finishes at 3pm now. Pffft so annoying. I will check out the local sports centre as I think they do school holiday events for children. I do wonder though that after losing tax credits and paying for some sort of childcase how much I would have left over but I will do some caluclations.
Thanks for giving me some food for thought x

Hi DippityDooDah
RE the working mum guilt, I guess we all guilt trip ourselves over different things. I constantly feel guilty not contributing to the house money pot and all the weight being on Dh's shoulders. Thats why i am always searching for a money earner in everything lol.

I will check out the paper crafts, I am much more a fabric kind of person and have a few ideas in the pipeline but I am sure the paper crafts would be cheaper to produce which might be interesting.

thanks loads xx

sweetpea26

Steph...you do so much. Could you cope with a permanent job with all that you do? I know you want to get this debt down and you will do it this year. I think keep doing what you are doing and try get into the spa work again. Mobile work as well. Lots of people would love to have a treatment at home.


What about increasing the number of animals you have and selling the meat? Is that possible?


I see you a very busy person trying to juggle what you are doing at this time and to add more pressure of a permanent job could exhaust you. Is it financially viable re tax credits etc. How much better off would you be? Would you be running yourself into the ground. Being a stay at home mother is a valuable job its not an easy one either. Just because you are not in the 'field of work' does not mean that what you are doing is not worthwhile.


When this debt is gone think of the money you will have that you are not firing at debts ... you will cope very well on it and still be there for your family. Which in my books is the most important thing to do if its possible in any way keep going Steph stop beating yourself up.

Determined2Save

Hi Steph,

Thought I'd appear out of lurkdom to say hello for once Re: the work thing - have you tried looking for paying jobs that would allow you to work from home? I know there are tonnes of scams out there, with the bots that post 'my sister's mum's parrot earns £3,000 a month working part time from home', but there are some legit things, too There's a site called People Per Hour where you can 'bid' on admin-type jobs, for example?

Anyway, I wish you all the best for your challenge - I'm sure you'll get the debt paid off sooner than you think I'm not one to talk though, as the impulse spending is where I fall down, too! (just calculated that my daily coconut water at work costs me £9 per week :eek:).

Golightly72

Hi Steph, good luck, I'm really rooting for 2016 to be your debt free year!

When my kids were young I picked up a couple of shifts at the local supermarket, two evenings 6-10pm, and one weekend day. It worked really well as DH worked 9-5 every day so we didn't need any childcare/holiday cover - might be worth looking into, the extra money made all the difference to our tight budget?

StressedSteph

sweetpea26 wrote: »

Steph...you do so much. Could you cope with a permanent job with all that you do? I know you want to get this debt down and you will do it this year. I think keep doing what you are doing and try get into the spa work again. Mobile work as well. Lots of people would love to have a treatment at home.

What about increasing the number of animals you have and selling the meat? Is that possible?

I see you a very busy person trying to juggle what you are doing at this time and to add more pressure of a permanent job could exhaust you. Is it financially viable re tax credits etc. How much better off would you be? Would you be running yourself into the ground. Being a stay at home mother is a valuable job its not an easy one either. Just because you are not in the 'field of work' does not mean that what you are doing is not worthwhile.

When this debt is gone think of the money you will have that you are not firing at debts ... you will cope very well on it and still be there for your family. Which in my books is the most important thing to do if its possible in any way keep going Steph stop beating yourself up.

Thanks Sweatpea
Lots of ideas there. I have thought about upping my animal quantity but the trouble with farming is, the only way to make any money is by having HUGE quantities, I also would have to jump through quite a few hurdles with having a proper processing room and packaging.

Thanks for your kind words, I do think i beat myself up alot and I am never just sat about at home, there is always something to be done, I will chase up the Spa to see if they can push more treatments my way and will look out for more cleaning jobs.

xx

Determined2Save wrote: »

Hi Steph,

Thought I'd appear out of lurkdom to say hello for once Re: the work thing - have you tried looking for paying jobs that would allow you to work from home? I know there are tonnes of scams out there, with the bots that post 'my sister's mum's parrot earns £3,000 a month working part time from home', but there are some legit things, too There's a site called People Per Hour where you can 'bid' on admin-type jobs, for example?

Anyway, I wish you all the best for your challenge - I'm sure you'll get the debt paid off sooner than you think I'm not one to talk though, as the impulse spending is where I fall down, too! (just calculated that my daily coconut water at work costs me £9 per week :eek:).

Hi Determinedtosave

Thanks for posting, I didn't know there were really any legitimate work from home jobs out there. I will search up "People Per Hour" and see what they are all about. Clerical is my forte so typing etc would be brilliant. Thanks hun xx

Golightly72 wrote: »

Hi Steph, good luck, I'm really rooting for 2016 to be your debt free year!

When my kids were young I picked up a couple of shifts at the local supermarket, two evenings 6-10pm, and one weekend day. It worked really well as DH worked 9-5 every day so we didn't need any childcare/holiday cover - might be worth looking into, the extra money made all the difference to our tight budget?

Hi GoLightly

I did used to work for Sainsbobs before we moved out here. Our nearest supermarket is now 10 miles away but if it was a long enough shirt it would warrant the £10 fuel cost to get there and back. I might check out some night shifts. xxx

StressedSteph

Morning all,

Thank you all so much for the earning ideas you have all given me over the last few days, I have lots to look into in the next few weeks :T.

Dh has reluctantly gone back to work today, children still here until tomorrow.

I have balanced the bank this morning against YNAB. I have gone back to the old YNAB, I just didn't really like the new changes much and also reluctant to add another monthly subscription to my budget, so until YNAB4 stops working I will continue with this.

I'm being super careful atm as I am scared to make sure I can keep up the deal that I have made with my mortgage company Santander. I have to make an overpayment of £260 on the 8th January and then my normal payment of £760 on the 1st February. Super scared that I will not be able to do it.

We currently have about £140 cash in the house so I plan on trying to stretch that out for food & fuel for the next couple of weeks so that the bank account does not get touched FOR ANYTHING except direct debits. If I can manage that then we should be able to make it.

Got to pack the childrens PE bags and school bags today and get them ready for school tomorrow.

The blitzing of the house will start in earnest tomorrow. I can't get into doing it with the children around calling me every 5 minutes for help with something :wall:

Going to try to catch up with some diaries today so watch out xxxx

mummytogirls

Evening Steph,

Glad to hear the children are all ready to go back to school tomorrow.

You'll feel like a new woman tomorrow flying round with no interruptions! xx